A New Favorite (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
by ilna
Summary: A Skype with Aunt Deb reveals that Angie isn't the first McGarrett to love trains.


**Notes: **Huge thanks to Mari for essentially outlining the entire story with me last night. Who knows what I would have come up with left to my own devices. You definitely got the whole thing rolling ;-)

Thanks to Sammy for the squeal-inducing feedback!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_A New Favorite (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)_

"_What do you have there, munchkin?_" Deb asked, craning her neck a little to try and see what Angie was rolling along the coffee table just out of sight of the screen.

"Show Aunt Deb your toy, Angie," Catherine prompted, gently nudging her arm and pointing to the tablet screen where Deb's image was smiling back. "What is it?"

Angie smiled proudly. "Twain!" she said, holding up the plastic train engine. "See?"

"_Oh, a train!_" Deb said with a little clap. "_How fun!_"

"And what sound does your train make?" Catherine asked.

"Choo!" Angie said, raising the train even higher and looking back over her shoulder at Catherine who smiled.

"That's right, choo choo."

"Choo choo," Angie repeated. She turned and looked at Steve on her other side. "Choo choo, Dada!"

He smiled. "Yeah, that's your choo choo train."

"_Is that a new favorite?_" Deb asked as Angie returned to rolling her train along the coffee table and talking to herself.

"She's had it a while, but recently it's become a favorite," Catherine said.

"Meaning it's the only thing she hasn't tried to flush," Steve added wryly.

Catherine elbowed him. "Don't give her any ideas."

Deb chuckled. "_Ohh, I heard about that new phase. She'll grow out of it, don't worry._"

"The sooner the better," Steve said, shaking his head with a little laugh.

Deb grew thoughtful as she watched Angie playing. "_You know something, Mary had a toy train she loved._" She looked at her nephew. "_Do you remember, Steve?_"

He stopped, brow knitting for just a moment before his face softened. "Yeah," he said slowly. "She did." A small smile grew on his face. "Wow. I forgot about that."

"_I'm sure I have a picture of her with it somewhere,_" Deb said.

"Blue engine with … bright yellow wheels," he said. "She used to take that thing everywhere." He glanced over at the stairs, a small laugh escaping. "She'd take forever to go up the stairs because she'd roll it along each step saying 'Choo choo' on each one."

"Choo choo," Angie repeated automatically as she played.

Steve smiled at her before his eyes grew distant again. "And there was a book about trains," he continued. "She used to ask me to read it to her all the time. It had different color train cars … listed all of them in a row … like a, like a rainbow."

Catherine smiled softly, watching him get caught up in the memory, then shared a meaningful look with Deb who she knew completely understood.

Steve shook his head, a trace of amazement in his voice. "Wow. I haven't thought about that in … years."

Catherine rubbed his arm, smiling at him.

"_I haven't either,_" Deb said. "_And now here we have another little McGarrett train enthusiast_."

Steve smiled, running a gentle hand over Angie's head. She turned her head and smiled at him, holding out her train.

"Choo choo, Dada," she said.

He took the toy, smiling softly, and stared at it a moment, his mind going once more to the past.

"Choo choo," Angie said again, hitting the coffee table and running her fingers along the wood to indicate what she wanted him to do. "Bee mo nah, Dada. Choo choo."

He grinned and set the train down, rolling it in front of her. "Choo choo," he echoed, and she rewarded him with a bright, happy smile.

* * *

Later that evening when Catherine came back into the house with Cammie after a potty trip, they joined Steve and Angie in the playroom. Catherine settled on the floor beside Steve as Cammie took up a spot close to Angie who was rolling her train up and down the chair legs of her small table.

"Hey, I've been thinking about that train of Mary's Deb was talking about," Catherine began.

Steve looked over at her. "Yeah?"

"Remember a few years ago when we were cleaning out the garage and found some boxes of old toys and games that your Dad saved?"

"Yeah, we held onto some of 'em in case we needed 'em when Grace or Joanie were over. We just never ended up using most of 'em."

"There was a train in one of the boxes," she said. "Blue with yellow wheels."

He looked surprised at that.

"I thought it was yours so I kept it," she said.

"You kept it?"

She smiled, nodding.

He looked over his shoulder in the direction of the garage, inhaling a breath.

Catherine leaned over to press a quick kiss to his lips before turning to Angie. "All right, baby girl, it's bath time. Let's go upstairs."

"Twain?" Angie asked, waving her toy in question.

"Yes, your train can have a bath, too," Catherine said, scooping her up and standing.

"Ah me oh nah. Dada?" Angie said, pointing to him. "Dada go?"

"Daddy's gotta find something in the garage," Catherine said, smiling knowingly at Steve. "He'll be up in a few minutes."

"Choo choo," Angie said, smiling over Catherine's shoulder at Steve and holding up her train as they headed out of the playroom.

* * *

In the garage, Steve pulled down the plastic tub that held the old games and toys they'd saved. Placing it on one of the workbenches, he opened the lid and began sifting through the contents. It was mostly board games, but underneath Monopoly, Clue, Battleship, and the others was a smaller tub with a few toys for younger kids. There, nestled between the plastic dinosaurs and a set of farm animal toys, was Mary's blue and yellow train.

He picked it up and gazed at it, memories of his little sister playing with the train becoming even more clear in his mind now that the toy was in his hands.

With a small smile, he set it down and took out his phone, snapping a quick picture and sending it to Mary. A few seconds later, his phone buzzed with an incoming call and he answered.

"Hey, Mare," he began.

"_Is that my train?_" she asked without preamble.

He grinned. "Yeah. Dad saved it. It's been out in the garage in this box of old games and toys."

"_I haven't thought about that thing in years. I had no idea he saved it._"

"Actually, I didn't either. Catherine thought it was mine, so she saved it when we were cleaning out the garage a few years ago."

"_So … what? You were working on the Marquis and came across it again?_"

"No, actually. Angie's current favorite toy is a little train. We were skyping with Aunt Deb and she reminded me about your train from when you were young. Catherine realized it must be the same one she found in the garage."

"_Wow,_" Mary said, and he recognized the same touch of awe in her voice as had been in his own. "_Dad saved it._"

"He knew it was your favorite, too."

She paused a moment, then said. "_You know why I loved that train so much, don't you?_"

"Why?" he asked.

"_Because you had the Christmas ornament. The train._"

He blinked, knowing immediately what she meant. The train ornament with "Son" printed on it that had always been his favorite.

"_I remember Aunt Deb telling me once how Dad noticed that after you got that ornament, I started playing with my toy train all the time. Before that it was just one more toy in the toybox, but once my big brother had a train ornament he loved …_"

"I never knew that," he said, smiling softly and running a finger over the train in front of him. "Hey, there was a book, too, remember? You always wanted me to read it to you. What was the nam–"

"_Freight Train_," she said immediately. "_Joan had a copy but it was never a favorite of hers. I gave it to Angie along with a bunch of other books when we there at Christmas._"

"You did? I don't remember seeing it."

"_Well, there were a bunch in the box._"

"Huh," he said thoughtfully, looking back toward the house. Shaking his head to clear it, he went on. "So do you want me to send you this train? I bet Joanie would love seeing her mom's favorite toy."

Mary paused. "_You know what? Give it to Angie. She can start her own fleet. And next time we come to the island, Joan can play with her._"

He smiled. "You sure?"

"_Yeah. Tell her Aunt Mary wants her to have it._"

"I will."

* * *

Catherine was just finished getting Angie into her pajamas when Steve joined them in Angie's room.

"Hey, you found it," Catherine said as she looked over her shoulder.

"I did," he confirmed, holding up the train.

Angie gasped from her seat on the changing table. Her eyes lit up and she immediately held out her free hand. "Twain! Ah bee mah! Dada!"

"This is Aunt Mary's train," Steve said as he handed it to her. "She wants you to have it."

"May-ee?" Angie asked, looking toward the wall where photos of family hung.

Catherine smiled. "You called her, didn't you?"

He nodded.

Angie beamed, looking back at the two trains in her hands. "Choo choo!" she said happily, lightly banging them together. "See choo choo twain."

"Now you have two choo choo trains," Catherine said, smiling at her. "And possibly a new favorite toy."

"I found one other thing down on your bookshelf," Steve said, holding up a book.

"Twain!" Angie cried, pointing with her new train at the image on the front cover.

"Is that the same book you read to Mary?" Catherine asked, amazed.

He smiled. "Yeah. Well, not the same copy. Hers fell apart, we read it so much. This was Joan's."

"Ohh, one of those books they brought at Christmas," Catherine said in sudden realization.

"Yeah."

Catherine smiled, lifting Angie up and kissing her head. "Well, I think I know what Daddy is going to read you tonight, baby girl."

Steve sat in the rocking chair and Catherine settled Angie in his lap. She rested against him, clutching both trains to her chest like beloved stuffed animals and he began to read.

"A train runs across this track …"

Angie smiled contentedly and added her own line.

"Choo choo."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**Book (a classic):**

_Freight Train_, by Donald Crews (Greenwillow Books, 1978)

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